Translate this website
Language Arts:
This week we are working on the tion and sion endings. Students will read and practice the sounds that each ending makes. We'll look at words with those endings. There is no spelling list this week. We will still have three words of the week.
We'll also be working with adjectives (describing words). Students will be working with adding adjectives into their writing. When you're reading books throughout the week, have your child point out some adjectives to you. You could ask your child to describe something for you using adjectives.
Ongoing skill throughout first grade: Adding to the work we've done with nouns and verbs, students will use the nouns to find the naming part of the sentence and students will be using the verb to identify the action part of a sentence. Students should be familiar with both parts. We'll be working on making a complete sentence using both the naming and action parts.
Students will be working on telling and asking sentences. The goal is for students to be able to find in text and say a telling sentence or an asking sentence. Students should also be able to use the correct punctuation make at the end of a telling (. or !) or asking sentence (?).
Our comprehension focus this week is topic, main idea, details AND opinion/supporting details. Students will be working on finding the main idea and details during reading groups. We'll continue to work on asking and answering questions related to those big ideas. Students will also be writing about one topic and providing details sentences to match. We'll do the same with opinion writing.
SPELLING IS COMPLETE FOR THE YEAR!!
Spelling: Students will take a spelling pretest on Mondays (or Tuesdays of a short week) and the final test on Fridays (or Thursdays of a short week). I have included a spelling practice on the back of the communication sheet. Please feel free to do other practice too. If you child spells all of the words correctly on the pretest, he/she will take the receive the challenge list.
**This week our spelling focus is word families:
Math (for Mrs. Michelson's math group):
We will be using place value for adding and subtracting this week. Students have been using the 100s chart for most of the year. Most are very proficient at counting forward and backward. We are going to be working on "taking shortcuts" when using the 100s chart to add larger numbers. Going up and down on the 100s chart will allow students to count by 10s (add/subtract 10s). This will lead into work with adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers. For example: 32+21... Start at 32, go down two hops 42, 52 (+20) and forward one hop 53 (+1).
We will continue to work with fractions this week. Students will review the concepts that we've been learning - numerator/denominator, find equal pieces, dividing a shape into equal pieces. We'll start looking at equivalent fractions and comparing fractions using fraction pieces.
We'll continue our work with place value. Students will be using base 10 blocks and a place value mat to start recognizing the number in the 1s place and 10s place. This is an important first grade standard. Students should be able to count a group of Base-10 blocks and also determine the ones place or tens place digit in a number. Students will use the 100s place, but it is not a first grade standard.
We'll be conitnuing our work with number patterns. We'll be using our 100s chart to continue counting and looking for patterns into the 100s, 200s, etc. We'll look at place value to show the repeating patterns. Have your child look for patterns using +1 and -1 and also +10 or -10 (going up/down).
Students will be working on adding and subtracting. We'll discuss how to build fact power. Student should be stating to memorize the math facts. We'll take a look at an addition/subtraction facts table to highlight the facts that students should already know.
The goal is for students to be able to identify the coin, tell how much the coin is worth, and count a group of mixed coins. We will continue this week by counting pennies, nickels AND dimes. In the past, some students have had a difficult time transitioning from counting by 10s into counting by 5s and then by ones. Your child should be able to tell you how much a dime, nickel, and penny are worth and count a group of mixed coins. If you see that your child is having trouble, practice counting groups of coins at home for five minutes each night.
Students will tell time using an analog clock (often time we call it the "clock with hands" in class) and a digital clock. The first grade standard is for students to be able to tell time to the hour and half hour. We will work on telling time to the 5 minutes (digital only).
Students will often be using the 100 chart. We'll be exploring pattern on the 100s chart. Students will be working to identify numbers. We will play some games in class using the 100s chart. You can find many online games to play at home by using a Google search. You can find a printable 100s chart by clicking here.
Social Studies:
Map Skill: The United States - Alaska
Science: Pond Habitat, Forest Habitat, Life Cycle of a Frog
**Our tadpoles are growing. We have a few that are getting quite large. We've been keeping track of our observations in a journal. I'll be taking photos along the way so that the kids can glue one in for reference. It's always the goal for the students to see the whole life cycle. If nature cooperates (haha!) that will happen. Ask you child to tell you about the life cycle and what stage our frogs are at in the classroom.